by Jill Finkelstein
Link Roundup: Marriage, Divorce, and Purim
Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.
With Purim beginning tomorrow night, Yosef Goldman reminds us of the objectification of women mentioned in the megillah and offers ideas on how to celebrate the holiday feminist-style. [Jewschool]
When it comes to Purim costumes, parenting columnist Marjorie Ingall asks why we are more comfortable with little girls dressed up like boys than little boys dressed up like girls. [Tablet Magazine]
In honor International Agunot Day, which occurred yesterday on the Fast of Esther, the National Council of Jewish Women called upon Israel’s Knesset to enact divorce reform. The term aguna, literally meaning anchored or chained, refers to a woman who is “chained” to a marriage and is unable to remarry because her husband refuses to grant her a get, a divorce document required by Jewish law. [NCJW]
Is the word “Jewess” an ethnic slur? Sala Levin explores the history of the “retro” term that is currently making a comeback. [Moment]
Slate writer KJ Dell’Antonia described the backlash against parenting bloggers who write about not loving their children and what comments cross the line. [Double X]
An Israeli couple is awaiting a decision from Israel’s attorney general on whether or not they have the right to their deceased son’s frozen sperm. Their son, Ohad Ben-Yaakov, was not married and died at the age of 27 due to a work-related accident. If granted permission, the couple hopes to find a surrogate carrier to give birth to their posthumous grandchildren. Currently, Israel law only allows the wife or partner of the deceased the right to use the sperm for posthumous reproduction. [Tablet Magazine]
On Wednesday, a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. If repealed, it would lift the ban on same-sex marriage in the United States. [Washington Blade]
Israeli Rabbis from the religious Zionist community launched an initiative to marry gay men to lesbian women. So far they have performed 11 of these marriages. [Ha’aretz]
In response to the devastating tsunami in Japan, Jewish and Israeli groups rushed to send support. Israeli organizations Zaka and IsraAid sent search-and-rescue teams to Japan, while many Jewish groups are working hard to raise money to help with relief efforts. The Chabad center in Tokyo has also been sending food and supplies for a bakery that the organization commissioned in the city of Sendai. Visit here to find out how you can help the victims. [JWeekly]